Hi there - I am still experimenting with my first ebook format and design and have just converted about 20 pages from word to make a small ebook to test that I am doing the links, security etc properly. On some of these pages there is a 'dash' mark like this ' - ' either at the beginning of a line where I have hit the return key twice when composing in Word (to make a double space) or where I have selected the Centre option in Word in order to centre the next line of text on the page.
How can I get rid of these dashes ? And how do I NOT insert them next time please?
Being someone who uses Word only when absolutely necessary, I can't give a reason for the behavior. However, I can offer a solution...first paste the text into Notebook, then use search and replace for the unwanted characters.
Notebook typically strips out the weird stuff Word likes to add to the mix, so if you are expecting to include HTML code this might not be possible.
Thank you Storyman - i'll try your Notebook suggestion. Why do you use Word only when necessary? Is there something inherently wrong with it that the more technically-minded know about? I actually bought ebookcompiler because I can use Word and Activ Quick Project with it.
Although I must tell you that I have ordered castro's book about HTML as you recommended to me in a previous post.
This business of ebook compiling and web site designing is far from intuitive for me as yet (writing the content is a doddle in comparison) so you and Sunil are becoming my heroes in this Forum!
Found a solution ! After discovering that I do not have Notebook (I was thinking of Wordpad when you said Notebook) I realised that the answer might have been in my own question - I went back into the Word files and where I manually inserted a retun in Word (ie - where it was not an automatic line wrap) - I removed the return and used the line spacing drop-down box to get the extra spacing that I wanted. Et voila ! The dashes have gone.
I use word to create a document, but never export it.
Once the document is created (with little or no formatting) it is cut and paste time. The purpose is to break it down into separate HTML pages.
The HTML formatting is done in Dreamweaver. I use CSS. Neither tables nor frames are ever used.
I've found that Word throws in some odd formatting that needs to be stripped. Dreamweaver has a feature that will do it for you, but because I've do some tricks with CSS it needs to be hand done anyway. It isn't as bad as it sounds becuase most of it is automatted with Dreamweaver.
Glad to hear you've got a copy of Castro's book. I know you'll find it helpful. Before tackling CSS, I'd highly advise you to get a handle on HTML. CSS is powerful and at the same time dangerous to your mental stability. There are so many little quirks it can drive a person bonkers.
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